It’s A Kind Of Magic(ka): Trine Devs’ Nine Parchments

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As someone who causes a lot of problems then somehow expects thanks for clearing them up, I sympathise with wizards. You’d dick about with fireballs and skellingtons if you could, wouldn’t you? You’d have to decency to iceblast your now-flaming curtains, wouldn’t you? Arrowhead’s Magicka is my go-to game for dickhead wizard antics but I am interested in what Trine gang Frozenbyte are up to now. This week they announced Nine Parchments [official site], a zap-bang wizard ’em up about inept spellcasters causing trouble – with co-op support. What Frozenbyte have said and shown does remind me of Arrowhead’s game. Have a look at this announcement trailer:

So! Those naughty wizards have dropped out of their studies to take the quick route to mastering magic. I think that involves blowing themselves up a lot – then expecting thanks when they put out the curtains. With a magic system sounding similar to Magicka, Nine Parchments has five magical elements (life, death, fire, ice, and electric) plus five projectile types (beam, spray, damage over time, area of effect, and physical) to combine. It has a touch of roguelikelike too, with procedurally-generated monsters and unlockable characters and items.

“Magicka is a fair comparison, but we’re not aiming to make a clone,” Frozenbyte have said in a YouTube comment. “This is our take on wizard ’em up magical co-op mayhem. One could say we’re going rogue with this.”

Nine Parchments is coming to Steam some time in 2017. It will support local and online multiplayer for up to four wizards, though playing on your lonesome will also be an option. I do like that it’s as colourful as the Trine games are. I didn’t really get on with Frozenbyte’s last game, stealth ’em up Shadwen, and Trine 3 was disappointing but I do still have a soft spot for ’em. I’m curious to see how this shapes up.

As for Magicka creators Arrowhead, their most recent game is Helldivers, an alien-busting shooter with wacky co-op antics. Adam and Alec really enjoyed it.

Good to know I’m not the only one who got a Magicka vibe from this. It sounds like this will be played a bit more straight and without the spontaneous comedy that arises from typos and friendly-fire I’m not totally sold on this.

On the other hand looks like Frozenbyte is going back to their twin-stick roots which is kinda cool.